angkor what???

am back!!!! after 5 days in siemreap no less!

what can i say about siemreap? i'd liken it to perhaps a 1950s version of bangkok...still underdeveloped in many ways but changing fast to accomodate the tourist dollar...a paradoxical juxtaposition of the old (the very old too) and the new...

i like it though...small enough to walk everywhere in town and yet big enough to accomodate the hordes of tourists arriving to see the angkor complex...still charming yet cynical in many respects...

i suppose it's the way the material world imposes itself this little town whose only claim to fame and its fortune in many respects, is its proximity to the wonders of angkor...

what can one say about it? i have lost track of the superlatives that i have used in the past 5 days...

awesome...
inspiring...
stunning...
magnificent...
incredible...
amazing...
stupendous...
spectacular...
mind-boggling...
spine-tingling...

the list goes on and on...you just have to be there to see it to appreciate the wonders of these ancient sites...

the 1st sight of angkor wat with its magnificent spires just set me off gawking like a country bumpkin arriving in a big city...the 1st sight of the bayon in angkor thom, with its numerous enigmatic faces, gave me goosies up and down my spine for minutes on end...it's all so hard to take it that i ended up going there for 3 full days to get my fill...

and it's not just these 2...there are just so many other beautiful temples...banteay srey, banteay samre, kanteay kdei, ta prohm, pre rup, preah kanh, eastern mebon...ooooh man...

a real feast for the senses...phew!

pix are being worked on now...to come later...

now where's my wanton mee? =))